"Drinks are on me!" I sighed, entering the bubble that was sophisticated men and women dressed up at the evening bar. Rebecca and Cara all ran for a table with four stools, whilst Louise willingly got her purse out first heading over to the bar to get the first round of drinks in.
"Smile Maya, it could be a lot worse." I nodded, knowing she was probably right, I just needed to adjust to being around such big groups of people. I pulled my bag up so it was sat in my lap, unzipping it to see my book sat at the top. The sound of high heels and laughter was dragging me down, this wasn't my sort of scene at all.
"Ladies, tequila is here." Louise placed a tray down in the middle of the table and then sat down herself. I grabbed one quickly downing it in the hope it would make me smile a bit more, but there was nothing.
I looked down catching a glance at my book again, I didn't want to be that person, but as the others became engrossed in their own conversation I found myself picking it up and immersing myself in the magical land of fiction.
I read for what felt like forever after finally being able to block out the sounds of people talking, when I felt Cara nudge me. "Do you wanna join our game?" They all looked hopefully at me, leaving me no choice but to accept. I noticed how they kept staring back at the bar, but I didn't know exactly what was catching their attention so much. "Alright, Maya, we dare you to go over to that guy at the bar with the curls in his hair, and hit him with your best pick up line."
I cringed, shaking my head, I had never gone near a guy before. "I don't think I can."
"Oh come on Maya, stop being so antisocial all the time, live a little." Rebecca urged me on as I jumped down from my stool. I could hear them cheering as I walked over to the guy, who had two other guys either side of him, looking over at me.
I scratched the back of my neck, an awkward habit I had picked up over time, when I reached him. I took a deep breath, wracking my brain for a semi decent chat up line I could use. "Do you know if you were a potato, you'd be a sweet potato." His two friends sniggered, as the blush creeped onto my cheeks.
The guy looked at me, clearly trying to hold back a laugh. "Thank you...I think." I didn't know what else to do, so span back around and walked back to our table, delving back into my book in the hope it would take the humiliation away.
"What happened?" Cara asked looking over at me with an intrigued eye.
"Nothing, I said my line and then ran away." The three of them all looked over disappointedly at me.
"Maya! You're no fun, you should have stuck it out and made conversation with him." Right now conversation was the last thing I wanted with that guy after they all laughed at me.
I delved straight back into my book once we all fell silent, reading from left to right several times along each individual page, for a good half an hour.
Once again I zoned out of the bar bubble until once again I felt a nudge in my side. Cara nodded to my right as I turned around to see the guy stood next to me. "I didn't get to introduce myself, Dean."
"Maya." He reached forwards and shook my hand, smiling over at me. I wasn't entirely sure if it was one of pity or a genuine one, but I took it all the same. He looked around at the rest of the girls, waving to each one.
"So I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime?" He was looking over at Cara as he spoke, so I turned around to see her reaction. Cara was by far the prettiest of the four of us, she was skinny, had an incredible personality, not to mention her gorgeous smile.
"Oh Dean, you don't even know my name yet." I looked back at him, noticing his left arm raise to scratch the back of his neck. I chuckled earning myself a couple of funny looks, knowing how I did the exact same. "But, I would absolutely love to, you seem great."
"Oh, I'm sorry-"
"-Cara." She didn't look too impressed that he didn't know her name, but then again what was he, a mind reader?
"I wasn't actually talking to you, I meant your lovely friend Maya here." I jumped up, slightly taken aback. I looked at Cara then down at my outfit, there was no comparison between the two of us, especially with how much of an effort she had made tonight. "That sweet potato line really tickled me, I've never heard it before."
"Yeah, that would be really nice." He nodded pulling out his phone, as I did the exact same. I could feel Cara's eyes burning behind me, probably out of complete humiliation. We swapped phones pulling up our contact list and exchanging numbers.
"So you like books?" He asked, picking my current read up and browsing the blurb. "What's your favourite?" That wasn't even a question, there was only ever one book in my mind.
"To Kill a Mockingbird, a gentle classic that has lasted the test of time." I couldn't help but admire how much interest he had in me, no guy had ever spoken a word to me before, the nerdy girl in the corner wasn't exactly number one on a man's want list.
"I love that one too, well I love all books really." I honestly didn't think this day could get any better, we actually had so much more in common then I thought we could. "Maybe we could go to the bookstore or something, you can pick me out some good reads?"
"Yeah, that would be great," I smiled.
"Well it's a date," he teased making me giggle. His two friends came up behind him, signalling it was time to leave. "Well goodnight girls, Maya."
We all bid him goodnight, watching him walk out of the club, and then I moved back so I was looking at the girls. "How on earth did you do that?" Rebecca asked.
"I have no idea." I joked, smiling to myself.